this weekend, independent documentary digital film-maker liu gaoming (刘高明) and independent film producer zhu rikun (朱日坤) curated “old man party, shenzhen (老男人的party)”. like many shenzhen artists, gaoming has a white-collar day job (he has his own design company), which supports his artistic activities. this makes the shenzhen art scene very different from other cities, where being an artist is often a fulltime practice. zhu rikun is the head of fanhall films, a beijing based institution which produces and promotes chinese independent films.

the event was held at club de vie (圆筒艺术空间) was founded by a group of professional artists and wine tasters, bringing together both economic and aesthetic interests in a way similar to the loft space at oct. club de vie’s owner, feng zhifeng (冯志峰) is designer by day. again, the shenzhen twist on art promotion. club de vie is located within the shenzhen sculpture institute hosted the event–this is the same unit that sponsored fat bird’s “draw whiskers, add dragon”. the head of the institute, sun zhenye has said that it is their goal to turn 8 zhongkang road (中康路八号；their address) into a brandname.

the party took place on saturday and sunday; three films were screened each day. invitations to the event were texted to folks in gaoming’s and zhifeng’s circles. all of the films were digital documentaries, made out of diverse interests and commitments, but sharing limited financing. information about the artists and their work is available on the fanhall site. i have noted when the artist has an independent website. anyway, the artists and their films were:

huang wenhai’s (黄文海) “dreamwalking (梦游)” was about several beijing artists who went on a road trip to nanyang. performance artist li wake(李娃克), poet motou beibei (魔头贝贝), and painter ding defu (丁德福)　are all somewhat known within contemporay art circles. their intention was to make a film with wang yongping (王永平). huang wenhai went to help with the filming. however, the filming fell apart and huang wenhai ended up filming the artists’ daily life, which included drinking, impromtu performances, and drunken discussions on the meaning of life.

zhao dayong (赵大勇) presented “nanjing road (南京路)” about garbage pickers living at the heart of shanghai’s fashionable shopping district. the film focused on heipi (black skin), a migrant from the northeast whose poverty and subsequent arrests and beatings by the police lead to him going crazy.

wang wo (王我) showed “chaos (热闹)”, an impressionistic account of how it feels to live in contemporary china. interestingly, “renao” refers more to the general excitement of a crowded and prosperous area than it does to chaos, per se. indeed, describing a place as “renao” is more often than not complementary.

xu xin (徐辛) presented “the huoba troupe (火把剧团)”, a film that looks at the demise of sichuan opera. once the home to opera troupes and tea houses, chengdu is increasingly modern. young people prefer to go to discos and bars, and some of the old opera stars are now running song and dance troupes.

zhou hao’s (周浩) “hou street (厚街)”　brought the documentary lens to guangzhou, chronicling a year in the lives of migrant workers on hou street. all lived hand to mouth, looking for jobs in nearby factories. none have the kind of traditional relationships that made life meaningful back home.

hu xinyu (胡新宇) presented his first work “men (男人)”, an intensely personal film about hu xinyu, his friend old su, and their neighbor shi lin. old su graduated from the national film academy. after loosing another job, he moved in with hu xinyu, who filmed their days together.

all six films were made by non-professionals, who had turned to digital film-making as a way of expressing themselves. to my knowledge, this is the first time such an event has been organized in shenzhen. so an art scene emerges.